My Weekly Writing Challenge

Yes, it’s that time of the week already – almost the weekend and time for my weekly writing challenge. Here are your options:

Option one: Write a limerick with the word unicorn in it somewhere

Option two: Write a poem on the theme of your old school days

Option three: Write a ten-word story using all of the following words: treacle, nasty, exorbitant and hairy 

Last week option one was to write a limerick with the word scrabble featuring in it somewhere. Here are your simply brilliant results:

Keith Channing leapt in with two of what he does best:

For twenty-five days on the run
Me and Jimmy were looking for fun
We challenged the rabble
To a quick game of Scrabble
And guess what, we ruddy-well won!

Tis a difficult game, 3D Scrabble
Using words that are sheer techno-babble
Though it does serve you right
If you’re stuck there all night
You were just so determined to dabble.

Kim Russell sent in a witty one:

A Scrabble player from Nunhead

Was anxious to pick up a Z

He felt deep in the sack,

Kept throwing tiles back

And got stuck with a Q instead.

Jocelyn Barker sent in two hilarious limericks:

“Isn’t Scrabble a wonderful game?”

Says my sister, “But what’s in a name?”

“Clear, sable, crab, sale,

Barb, cable, scab, bale,

And there’s plenty more words whence they came!”

Arriving for room, bed and board,

His landlady soon had him floored.

Invited to dabble

In one game of Scrabble,

In no time he found he had scored!

Petra Rovere hasn’t ever written a limerick before. I think she’s coped exceptionally well, don’t you?:

There was a man who liked to gabble,

And thought he was a winner of scrabble,

Until his wife,

Told him his life,

Was lived in a big cozy bubble.

And lowering the tone is Geoff Le Pard. Sheer genius:

If there’s one thing to make maiden’s babble
It’s a full frontal game of strip scrabble
Without letters from France
They’ll be taking a chance
They dabbled with a rabble at scrabble.

A huge welcome to newcomer, Graeme Sandford and his take on the theme:

What had seven eyes and can’t cope;
Has exchanged MONEY for A ROPE
Needs a queue.
But, doesn’t have you
And is scrabbling to score… what a hope!

Ladyleemanila is another newcomer. She’s written some poems on the scrabble theme:

Scrabble

Option two was to write a poem on the theme of winter. Here are the chilly results:

Keith Channing delights with humour:

Because we’re quite old
We escaped from the cold
The missus, the doggy and me,
But the damned rain in Spain
Wasn’t down on the plain
It was right there with us, by the sea

Day two it was lighter,
The weather was brighter
And the sun shone a watery face.
It was warm; what is more
We were down by the shore
And fell quickly in love with the place.

The long pebbly beach
Took three minutes to reach
So we went there each day before dinner.
The dog had long walks
While we had long talks
You could tell everyone was a winner.

You know, I had a hunch
When we ate Christmas lunch
That we wouldn’t be there for much longer
But some big things had changed
Since the trip we’d arranged
And the urge to go home was much stronger.

It was really quite funny
The weather was sunny
Till the night we decided to go
But the very next day
The sun went away.
Still; at least there was no blooming snow.

Kim Russell wrote a beautiful poem:

Winter Rising

Early morning frost laced
Leaves and grass
Bejewelled cobwebs
Glittered as we passed
Our words hung breathless
In the frozen air
And then melted away
In the early sun’s glare.

Carol Campbell sent a link to her atmospheric poem:

Depth~A Clarity Pyramide

Sammi Cox has shared her vivid winter poem:

Words of Winter

The wind blew through the
Frost-encrusted trees
Whispering words of winter
Telling tales of snow and ice
Chilling all it touched with its
Frozen fingers
That clawed through the air
Until it reached the
Very heart of everything.

Finally, option three was the good old ten-word-story, which required you to use the following words in the story: vanity, Angus, spiffing and cauliflower.

Jason Moody will make you chuckle:

The spiffing cauliflower Angus grew? Modest. His vanity? Absolutely enormous!

Sacha Black just found time to get hers in. I’m so glad she did:

Angus’s date, hated both his vanity and his ‘spiffing’ cauliflower.

***

inspirational-quotes-3

 

 

 

 

 

36 responses to “My Weekly Writing Challenge”

    1. Thank you for taking part, Tessa. I love your limerick 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you!

        Like

  1. Terrific limericks! I’m going to tackle the 10 word story. Where DO you get these ideas??

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I just close my eyes and think about words and ideas that first come into my mind!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I should have tried that!

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Here I go: Hairy situation: Shopkeeper’s exorbitant price makes me barf nasty treacle!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. What a great story. Thank you so much for taking part 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Well, I’m looking forward to reading some REALLY good stories. It’s much harder than it looks!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. You’re right there but your story was really good 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  3. A struggling young artist from Morne
    Said, when asked to paint a unicorn,
    “That’s all balderdash,
    But for enough cash,
    I’ll paint you a horse with a horn.”

    What kept me awake all last night,
    Was not that the unicorn’s white;
    No. The question that vexes
    Is: do both the sexes
    Have horns? Surely that can’t be right.

    The antelope’s horn is of bone
    While the rhino’s is hair; that’s well known
    But I need to find out
    To remove any doubt,
    Is the unicorn’s magically grown?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re far too good at these, Keith. They’re absolutely fab! Thank you 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Aww, shucks! Thanks, Esther.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. You’re very welcome; it’s deserved 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  4. “The nasty hairy beetle drowned in the exorbitant priced treacle.”

    Not sure it tells a story, but it’s all I could come up with 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s great and made me laugh out loud! Thank you 🙂

      Like

  5. I composed a haibun in response to Option two: Write a poem on the theme of your old school days.

    When Love is Still a Stranger (haibun)

    Like

    1. I really enjoyed this, Steve. Thank you so much for taking part. I’ll send readers over to your blog to have a look 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you Esther; keep the writing inspirations coming.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Learning v Education

    Alison wore green ribbed wooly tights
    Which is an odd detail to remember
    Given I was nine at the time
    And I thought girls were aliens

    I sat next to a boy called Vyvyan
    Who looked a bit like the girl called Vivian
    They had small noses and curly red hair
    But he wore shorts and
    She had long hair
    So that explained it.

    We used a climbing frame
    Until Douglas fell off
    And broke his arm
    During break
    Which was ironic
    Only. I didn’t know it at the time

    Stuart smelt of old shoes
    And was sewn into his underwear
    During the winter.
    We didn’t mind
    Because he collected slow worms
    And we thought that was cool
    Before we knew what cool was

    I had a lot to learn
    Which I didn’t do at school.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I really enjoyed that. Takes me back to my own memories of school – especially a Stuart who smelt of old shoes! Thanks, Geoff 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  7. JasonMoody77 Avatar
    JasonMoody77

    Sat at the back
    Content to be quiet
    While other kids roared
    And whipped up a riot

    I tried to fit in
    And discover my voice
    But bullies got to me
    So I had no choice

    Despite this small hitch
    I threw myself in
    “Ignore them,” Mum said
    but my skin was too thin

    Year after year
    I grew a little
    The bullies died down
    And my feelings? Less brittle

    Friends I had made
    So that was a start
    A sanctuary I had
    When I was in art

    The years had rolled by
    Exams were ahead
    How could I recall
    All in my head?

    I did what I could
    Perhaps not enough
    Had I let myself down?
    that was just tough

    My time at school
    At best, a bit mixed
    But soon off to college
    Where that could be fixed.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is really good, Jason. Really heart-felt.

      Like

      1. JasonMoody77 Avatar
        JasonMoody77

        Thank you.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. You’re very welcome 🙂

        Like

  8. JasonMoody77 Avatar
    JasonMoody77

    Option 3.

    Twenty pounds for that exorbitant, hairy, nasty bit of treacle?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Ha, ha, ha 🙂 Love it!

      Like

  9. JasonMoody77 Avatar
    JasonMoody77

    Option 3.

    The big hairy, nasty monster loved treacle. Not exorbitant prices!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Another goody 🙂

      Like

  10. JasonMoody77 Avatar
    JasonMoody77

    Last go. Option 3.

    “Alright, treacle? Fancy an exorbitant, nasty, hairy cat? House trained!”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Glad you’ve found a place for a cat in there somewhere!

      Like

  11. […] My Weekly Writing Challenge […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Carol. What a heart-wrenching poem. I wanted to give the poor child a big hug!

      Like

  12. I really need to try a limerick. For some reason the thought intimidates me. As always, Thank you, Esther!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Try one! I;m sure you’ll surprise yourself 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I just may. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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